


A Night in Sickbay

by ImpishTubist



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 18:50:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1828504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImpishTubist/pseuds/ImpishTubist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kathryn tries to comfort an injured Chakotay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Night in Sickbay

**Author's Note:**

> Originally appeared [here](http://impishtubist.tumblr.com/post/89421015145/pairing-jc-line-please-stay).
> 
>  

Kathryn went down to Sickbay as soon as she could get away from the bridge, which, given the fact that they had almost lost their first officer that morning, was more difficult than it would have been on a normal day. She worked all through alpha and beta shifts, and she would have continued on through gamma if it had been anyone else in Sickbay but Chakotay. But by then she had reached her breaking point, and she needed to see him.

 

The Doctor had assured her earlier that Chakotay’s life was no longer in danger, but his healing process would be a lengthy one. She had lost track of the bones he had broken by the fifth or sixth one the Doctor listed - both his femurs, his right arm, some of his ribs, his left ankle… the list seemed endless. Heat from the fire had damaged his lungs, too, and he would be in Sickbay for at least three days, no exceptions. The Doctor could reverse most of the damage, but it would take time.

 

Sickbay was deserted when Kathryn stepped through the doors, and she breathed a silent sigh of relief. There was less need for her to be on guard, then. Chakotay was lying on the biobed on the far side of the room, his broken limbs held immobile by osteo-regenerators. He had been staring blankly at the ceiling, but turned his head at the sound of the doors opening.

 

Chakotay lifted two fingers from the bed in greeting as Kathryn went over to the biobed. His dark eyes were full of pain, but still he made an effort to remain focused on her, his gaze never leaving her face. A breathing apparatus had been placed over his mouth, easing the strain on his damaged lungs.

 

“I won’t stay long,” Kathryn assured him softly. “I know you need to sleep.”

 

Chakotay rolled his eyes, as though to say that there was no way that was going to be happening. Judging by his bloodshot eyes and the way he had curled his right hand into a fist so tight that his knuckles were bloodless, the pain was keeping him awake. Kathryn took his other hand, and he gripped it tight, but not enough that it would be painful.

 

Even in this state, he was still only thinking of her.

 

“The shuttle is a lost cause,” she told him. “I’ve put Tom in charge of designing a new one for us. You’d have thought he was three years old and I just told him it was his birthday, he was so excited.”

 

Chakotay’s eyes crinkled at the edges, the only sign that he was smiling. Kathryn ran her fingers through his disheveled hair and, after a quick glance around the room to verify that the Doctor wasn’t in sight, she bent at the waist to press her lips against his forehead. And then she kissed his cheek, and the hand that she still held.  

 

“I’ll be back in the morning, before alpha shift,” she assured him. “Try to get some rest, Chakotay.”

 

Forcing herself to turn and walk away was the hardest part, but she couldn’t remain here. It had been a risk coming down here in the first place. It had been pure luck that Sickbay was empty and the Doctor was either offline or elsewhere in the ship. Keeping what they had a secret from everyone else was difficult on the best of days, but on the worst ones - like this one -  it was simply Hell.

 

“Please stay.”

 

She froze on the threshold. When she finally turned around, she saw that Chakotay had pulled the breathing apparatus away from his face. His labored breathing was audible even from across the room, and his words were rasping.

 

“You need to rest.” But she crossed the room anyway, going back over to his side.

 

“I can rest… with you here,” Chakotay said slowly, pausing for breath in the middle of the sentence. Kathryn took the breathing apparatus from him and placed it back over his mouth, unable to stand to watch him struggle for a moment longer.

  
“All right,” she whispered, her resolve crumbling in the face of his pain. She took both of his hands in her own, and he relaxed. “I’ll stay.”


End file.
